Predictive Lead Scoring: A Lean Tool For Marketing

Posted by Phil Wiseman on Oct 25, 2017 2:40:50 PM

• inShare5

The concept of Lean is very straight forward. Eliminate or reduce waste in a process.  The principles have been applied across manufacturing, but are often overlooked or simply not understood in marketing.

The sales cycle/process has evolved from a benefits/features model- look what I have for you- to a customer driven model- what do you have for me. The role of the salesperson has evolved dramatically in most market sectors. Spending time knocking on doors and making cold calls on the phone has become a dinosaur method of selling.

Modern selling methods understand that you need to allow a customer to buy from you and that you eliminate any steps that complicate that process.- Lean Marketing.

One highly effective tool that eliminates waste in the sales process is Predictive Lead Scoring.  Predictive Lead Scoring is a data driven method based on  behaviors, demographics and engagement. 

Image Source:https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/traditional-predictive-lead-scoring

How can you use Predictive Lead Scoring as a Lean Tool For Marketing?

Sales and Marketing can now agree on what is a Marketing Qualified Lead and a Sales Qualified Lead. This resolves the age old conflict of " We send sales leads and they don't close them!" and " Marketing sends us bad leads".

Sales now spends time on those leads that are qualified and marketing spends time on generating content to engage and move leads through the sales process. As you gather more data you can improve lead scoring by weighting contributors and refining your model. Quality 101: Plan, Do, Check, Act.

Download our free Ebook on generating high quality leads.27 Proven Techniques For Generating High Quality Leads

Why Your 30 Second Elevator Speech Does Not Work And How To Fix It

I am fortunate to attend many networking events and get to meet some really impressive people. Problem is the 30 second elevator speech/commercial. You get 30 seconds. There are 15 people at the event. Simple Math: 15 x 30 seconds = 450 seconds.

How do you stand out from the crowd?

By the time the last person is done you can't remember anything about the first person or what they do. I'll admit it happens to me. One of the big problems I face is not having any idea about what people actually do and how I might be able to connect them. They lost me in the "jargon".

Does this happen to you?

Want to know how long people pay attention?

Take this 10 question online test and find out.

Should we just give up on the 30-second elevator speech/commercial? I don't think so. Here are some example of really good 30 ones:

Greetings, my name is Dustin Miller and I’m a Solutions Consultant with Intrust IT, and we’ve been helping small to medium sized companies conquer their business challenges with trusted IT solutions for more than 25 years.

There is one common factor in all of the solutions I’ve implemented for my clients and that’s their desire to take their business to the next level. IT is about more than computers and servers, it’s about progress. If you’re not sure how technology can take you to the next level let’s talk about it together.

My name is Dustin Miller with Intrust IT and my passion is in your progress.

Dustin does not use a bunch of geek speak to convey what he does even though he provides a very sophisticated service. His commercial is disarming and if you are having IT problems you would be comfortable approaching him. I have seen him in action at several networking events and what he does works.

Here is another great example from my friend Betsy Kent.

Hi, I am Betsy Kent and my company is Be Visible.

I have a disability that can be a curse or a blessing. It's that I'm an empath, which means that I pick up on and feel the pain and joy of other people. I've learned how to make it a blessing in my work as a marketing consultant and copywriter. I help businesses discover the words and phrases that will make an instant emotional connection with their ideal customer. And this has a huge positive impact on the success of their marketing and networking. 

It is very common for people to approach Betsy and ask for a meeting after hearing her 30-second speech.

If you struggle with what to say, think of your 30 seconds like a meta description on an internet search: Interesting enough to make people want to learn more.

How To Implement Kanban In Your Marketing

Kanban is an inventory control system well known for its application in lean production and Just In Time manufacturing. It is a visual story board and has been applied to areas beyond manufacturing.

Can you implement Kanban in your marketing? The reality is this has already been done.

Inbound Marketing allows you to implement Kanban in your marketing.

The visual above from HubSpot shows the flow of the customer buying journey.

The core principles of Kanban are easily seen:

• Visualize Work
• Work In Process
•  Flow
• Continuous Improvement

Learn More About Inbound Marketing

A Deals Dashboard allows you to visualize work, work in process, flow and focus on wins and losses to implement continuous improvement on your sales and marketing efforts.

Predictive Lead Scoring addresses Work In Process by focusing on those leads that are further along in the buyers journey. This allows resources to be focused on those leads that are likely to close and avoids chasing after leads that are not ready to buy.

Learn More About Predictive Lead Scoring

Continuous Improvement can be achieved by looking at page performance and aligning with overall business goals for lead generation.

Implementing Kanban in your marketing allows you to more effectively manage resources and get more leads and close them.

You may want to look at Marketing For Manufacturers.

Topics: kanban, inbound marketing

What Is Quality?

There are 14,800 searches on Google monthly for "What is Quality". Impressive!

1,540,000,000 search results. About 1 million different answers.

This seems like such a simple question, yet there are numerous interpretations as to what is quality. You will see Lean, Six Sigma, KanBan, Process, System, etc.

Crosby gave a very simple answer that resonates for the implementation of ISO 9001:2015:

"Quality is conformance to requirements"

The introduction to ISO 9001: 2015 states:

"Consistently meeting requirements and addressing future needs and expectations poses a challenge for organizations in an increasingly dynamic and complex environment."

My translation, your competitor will cut your legs off the second that customer requirements are not met. There is really no need to overthink what quality is and to use esoteric definitions. You are in business for one reason. You offer a product or service that the market is willing to buy. When you make it difficult to do business with your company by not conforming to customer requirements then your competitor will step in and exceed those requirements... and can even charge more for their products and services.

What Makes Us Different

ISO 9001:2015 Section 4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties is a succinct definition of What is quality-

"The organization shall monitor and review information about those interested parties and their relevant requirements."

It is time to move past the concept of quality as a combination of checklists, procedures and forms.

The Kano model is a great tool to use for quality thinking in ISO 9001:2015. Do the things that delight your customer and quit doing those things that detract.

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

Check out Marketing For Manufacturers.

Topics: Quality, Kano Model, ISO 9001